Vorpal Combat Hexapod Robot

Introducing the Vorpal Combat Hexapod Robot. This fun, interactive product is 3D-printed, low cost, and made for gaming using the included attachments. Vorpal comes with a wireless gamepad which allows you to trigger sixty different motions. These motions can be recorded to the included SD card on the gamepad and then replayed. But beyond gaming, Vorpal supports the MIT Scratch drag-and-drop programming system. You can use Scratch to easily create your own custom motions and trigger them with the gamepad during activities such as “Joust” or “Capture the Flag.” Kids and adults alike are instantly attracted to Vorpal, making it highly motivational for STEM education. The robot is available either as a kit or fully assembled.

Leave a Reply

Hi Steve, thanks for the thought. Would it be possible to kick in some funds to get both types of battery boxes?

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Dave, (Re: Safari Scratch) We do recommend Chrome. All our testing is on chrome because we've found it to be more stable for Scratch.

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Jarrod, It is possible to run this project using 6xAA or 6xAAA NIMH which probably are more plentiful in your area. If you would like that, just message me and I'll mark your order as wanting a different battery holder. Caveat: AAA at 1000 mAh you're only going to get about 15 minutes runtime. AA at 2000 mAh you'll get about 25 minutes. Whereas, a 3000 mAh 18650 will give you easily 60-70 minutes. So the 18650 is still by far the preferred battery for this project, but if you have a supply problem I would be happy to accommodate you.

Dave Leiner

Review from Kickstarter

Has anyone else tried running Scratch with Safari on MacOS High Sierra? It works fine on my older MacBook Pro running Sierra but I have an unusual problem with my 2016 MacBook Pro running High Sierra. Everything works except for the menu items Load/Save Project (or Download to/Upload from My Computer). When I select these items, nothing happens. No error, no action, no nothing. Chrome works fine though. I posted to the Scatch forum but have not gotten any responses. Thanks.

Im new to this kinda a stuff, could you put a link to the batteries i should use for the gamepad and hexapod?

Zeiram

Review from Kickstarter

That's very helpful. I through (re)heating the parts might soften them enough for fitting. I will give it a try. Thanks for the tip on shells also. Got the octopi all set up. Now we just need the CR-10. :)

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Zeiram, I have heard from several people that PLA does work, and from one person who had trouble bending the U-shaped leg hinges. One community member suggested putting the PLA in hot water (it looks like very hot tap water can work, it doesn't have to be boiling or anything) before bending and that will soften it up quite enough to work. Two shells is recommended. On my 0.5mm nozzle I used 1.0 mm walls. For a 0.4mm nozzle you might try 0.8mm, or if you want it a little stronger try 1.2mm. Hope this helps!

Zeiram

Review from Kickstarter

@Creator Question re: printing. We're getting our first printer in a few days, and I hadn't planned to jump straight in to ABS. Can PLA be heated with a hairdryer to avoid cracking/splitting during those tight press fits? Also, how many outer layers do you usually print? I saw the infill recommendation, but may have missed the layer spec.

Daniel Thomas Junior Johansen

Review from Kickstarter

Ohh yh I know, was just corious if changes was still made, but thx for reply, and this awesomeness!

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Daniel Thomas, The files are already posted on thingiverse.com! Just go there and search for Vorpal Hexapod and they come right up. Thank you for your pledge!

Daniel Thomas Junior Johansen

Review from Kickstarter

I fundet 139 , i spinder when the 3d printed files are ready to download and Be printed on my printer? :)

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Zeiram, I'll tell you this, kids of all ages are instantly attracted to this robot. At the Maker Faire and other events I've displayed them, everyone from 3 years old to adult can't resist this little guy! I had some kids come back 3 or 4 times during the day at Maker Faire, to the point where their parents had to keep coming back to track them down!

Zeiram

Review from Kickstarter

My 10 year old daughter is in a STEM program and participates in a VEX-based robotics club after school. The other kids are going to go nuts when they see her building a Vorpal Hexbot. :) It will be great to see her use Scratch for more than creating simple games and animations as well. Thanks for the great project!

Dave Leiner

Review from Kickstarter

Actually, the better charger with 4 white batteries is only 4 bucks more and can charge other types of batteries. I ordered that one.

Dave Leiner

Review from Kickstarter

@Creator Great info, Steve! Based on that I will probably go ahead and order the white EBL batteries. They have 2 chargers: the white 839 and the more expensive 992. It's clear the 992 cuts off automatically which is handy if I forget about the battery in the charger. It looks like you have to remember to remove the battery from the 839 soon after the light changes to green. Based on that, I will probably go with the 992 but any further light you can shed on this would be appreciated. Thanks!

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Dave L, Another note on batteries. Prompted by your question, today I did more extensive tests on the EBL "yellow ring" protected cells. There are two different EBL 3000 mAh products on amazon, one with the "yellow ring" and it says "protected" in the product tile, and one without the yellow ring (white ring around the + terminal instead of yellow). The "white ring" product does not use the word "protected" in the product title on amazon. On closer examination, even the white ring product markings on the battery itself say it does have a protection circuit. Both yellow and white say "short circuit, over current protection" printed right on the battery itself. Now, in my testing, the white ring version runs full out for an hour (in demo mode which is nearly constant motion) very consistently. Sometimes we even got 80 minutes during Maker Faire demos, and the robots were never idle for more than a few minutes all day long. However, there are two disadvantages to the "yellow ring" version that I have found doing timing tests today (besides a slightly higher price): 1) It is physically longer by a couple of mm, and this does make it a little harder to get in and out of the battery holder. The first time I used one, I actually scraped the little yellow ring half off because I had not pulled it back far enough. Once I got used to it, it was fine though. 2) The yellow ring version protection circuit seems to be much more aggressive than the white ring version. After about 27 minutes of full out use, the robot lost power, almost certainly because the protection circuit decided it was in an overcurrent condition (the servos probably surged a bit). Rebooting the robot cleared the protection circuit and it worked fine for another 15 minutes (this is all in demo mode which runs the robot almost constantly). After that, started getting more and more frequent "cut off" conditions where the battery decided it was in an overcurrent situation. By the 1 hour mark these were occurring so frequently the robot was unusable. I would say if I wasn't testing I would have swapped batteries after the third "cut out" which occured around the 47 minute mark. So, based on this new testing, I am recommending the "white" version of the EBL 3000 mAh battery, not the yellow version. Based on the battery markings they're both protected, but the yellow seems a little too protective! It appears to misinterpret very brief surges of power needed by the servos as an overcurrent situation. Note again: Assuming you're not going to run the robot full out for more than 10 to 15 minutes at a time, but rather you're going to let it rest a minute here and there between rounds of play, the yellow is really fine. For a classroom situation though, I'd prefer to get a full hour out of the batteries before having "cut out" occurring. Also based on your question, I just ordered 5 different brands of 18650 battery and I will conduct extensive tests over the next few weeks which will be published on our wiki in the battery section. Let's find the best batteries possible! Right now, for ultra low cost and pretty darn good 60 minute runtime, the "white ring" EBL 3000 is the one to beat.

Dave Leiner

Review from Kickstarter

@Creator Thanks for the battery info, Steve. You're the best! Really jazzed about this project.

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Hi Jarrod, Well that's a great idea! We are already including 1 spare servo in every order by the way. But I will post a project update a little later today with a list of add-ons people can get by adding to their pledge. Thanks for the suggestion, Steve P.

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Hello, Based on your comments, I am going to upgrade the battery information on the website and in the campaign wording. To tide you over until that happens: I would always use batteries with "buttons" (sometimes called "nipples") just due to the fact that you'll make fewer errors when inserting them. Protected vs. unprotected cells. The EBL brand seems to put a yellow ring around the + terminal's button (nipple) if it is protected. I've tested the hexapod with both the EBL protected and unprotected, they both work fine. My advice is: the protected give you an extra measure of safety and that's never a bad thing, they seem only modestly more expensive. A four pack of EBL 3000mAh protected is $20 (vs $18 for unprotected EBL 3000mAh four pack). Now, smart chargers. Some are smarter than others, this is true. The EBL iQuick charger ($10 on Amazon right now) does in fact cut off the current when the batteries are fully charged, and this is mainly what I use. But its not clear to me if the cheaper (small white) "EBL 839" charger has cut off or not. Its lights do turn green when the batteries reach 4.1 to 4.2 volts, but the wording in the manual does also say to unplug the charger once the batteries are charged. I am going to rig up a current meter in series using the 839 and see what happens, I'll have those results by tomorrow. That will settle whether it cuts off or not. Truthfully, competition robotics experiences made me paranoid about these things and I would never leave a battery plugged in overnight or unattended no matter how smart the charger claims to be, because one thing we know about technology is that it sometimes fails to work as designed.

Dave Leiner

Review from Kickstarter

Got in as an early bird basic backer after seeing your fun project on Thingiverse. I'm trying to select batteries on Amazon but it's very confusing between flat tops/nipples, protected or not, battery quality. I see you recommend EBL but even they come in multiple varieties and their charger does not seem to stop when the batteries are charged. Could you be more specific about what to select please? Also, Outlite and Fixed Star seem to have chargers that stop automatically; any experience with them? Thanks!

Jarrod Selsmark

Review from Kickstarter

Hi Steve, have you thought of doing any add-ons? I'd be keen for to buy some spare servo's.

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Hello again Nils-Ola, The largest part is the Base which requires a minimum build volume of 145mm x 145mm and Z=60mm tall. However, we do recommend a brim around this part for sufficient bed retention, and that could bring the XY size up to just under 150mm x 150mm.

Nils-Ola Nilson

Review from Kickstarter

@Creator. Ok. Thanks for a fast reply. One more question, what size is the biggest part in this kit (for us who print it)? Is it the final design released on Thingiverse or is it "work in progress" still?

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Nils-Ola, Unfortunately shipping is just expensive for packages going overseas. I wish this were not true and I could offer a lower rate. Although there are cheaper shipping options than what I'm using, they are not much cheaper, and they can require several weeks to arrive with a high rate of lost packages. I had a business years ago where I tried the cheaper methods, and so many customers complained about the long ship times, and I was spending so much time putting in paperwork to collect insurance on lost packages, it just wasn't worth it in the long run. On thing to consider is that this hexapod (even the "full" kit) is far less expensive than similar hexapods on the market which don't even have most of the features this one has, and it is still far more economical than others even accounting for the shipping costs.

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Vasiliy, I have added a shipping option to Russia, it's the same price as EU countries. -Steve P.

Nils-Ola Nilson

Review from Kickstarter

@Creator. Please look in too a cheaper shipping alternative, I think many possible pledgers avoid this project due to expensive shipping.

Vasiliy

Review from Kickstarter

Hi Steve, I would definitely go for `basic kit` pledge, but I'm from Russia, and, unfortunately, my country is not in the list. It would be great if you find a way to ship hexapods to Russia. Anyways, congratulations on reaching the goal and good luck with the rest of the campaign!

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Papje, Regarding charging, the project is designed such that you would take off the cap and take the batteries out of the holder and use an external charger. I felt that for safety reasons it was better to keep the charger separate (robots get banged around during play) and also this keeps the robot lighter allowing it to move faster and not stress the servos as much. Amazon and other sources have bundles that include two 18650 batteries plus a smart charger for only about $13, this is an extremely economical battery to use. We love EBL brand 3000 mAh batteries, we use them in all our demonstrations because they last over an hour even under intensive nonstop use, and they're actually lighter and cheaper than using AA NIMH (three times the run time of the AA as well!) and at $13 for a charger/two-battery bundle, it really is hard to beat. Be careful though: there are some really cheap off-brand batteries that claim enormous capacity but are basically garbage. (I saw one claiming 8000 mAh but my testing showed they only lasted half the time of the 3000 mAh EBL batteries!)

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Jarrod, There is definitely room after putting in an unprotected battery (about 6mm extra if I press the spring as far as it can go then measure with calipers) which should be enough based on specs I see online (protected are typically 3 to 4mm longer), but I am now purchasing some protected batteries to confirm this for sure.

Papje

Review from Kickstarter

It’s not clear to me how to charge the 18650 batteries, is this through the usb connector?

Jarrod Selsmark

Review from Kickstarter

Hi Steve & Vorpal Crew, congratulations on funding. A quick question regarding the 18650 battery holder, is it long enough to accommodate protected 18650 button tops, or only the standard unprotected 18650s? Cheers.

Joshua Johnson

Review from Kickstarter

Great design! I'm printing out all the parts as I type - PETG is working well. The 3D parts have all printed flawlessly so far. Love the use of commonly available electronics. Thanks for your hard work on this.

Jarrod Selsmark

Review from Kickstarter

Hey Steve, Great stuff. Just downloaded from Thingiverse.

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Hello Jarrod, I just uploaded what I believe are the final files for version 1 today for the robot, the gamepad, the joust game parts, and the capture the flag game parts. The eyes and nameplates are also all final. I am still fiddling around with the fidget spinner bracket and the HC-SR04 rangefinder bracket. Even today's updates were extremely minor, they make certain parts slightly stronger, and the base got a new little chunk of plastic to help the piezo buzzer stay in place. So, go ahead and print the robot, hold off on just a couple of the accessories.

Jarrod Selsmark

Review from Kickstarter

Hi Steve, at want point will you consider the current printed parts set in stone for this version of the Hexapod? I'm keen to start printing parts in preparation for your successful Kickstarter :)

i hate buying gas

Review from Kickstarter

Hi, my printer is 4 in x 4 in x 4.5 in

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Hello Morton H, there is a "Early Bird TWO Basic Hexapod Kits" item you can use to get two in a single pledge. Thanks so much for considering supporting our project!

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Hello "i hate buying gas". Tell me what size your print bed is and I'll take a look at how it might best be split, and how many parts would need to be split. If you don't mind using some epoxy glue it should work. The biggest part is the BASE which holds all the hip servos, the servo holders stick out in all directions.

Morton H

Review from Kickstarter

Can I pledge for 2 of the early bird basic kits?

i hate buying gas

Review from Kickstarter

I cancelled two other kickstarters to back this kit. My printer isn't big enough so I'll have to split some of the larger pieces to fit my printer. Is that easy enough to do on that website?

Morton H

Review from Kickstarter

I have 12 grandkids that will go crazy over this.

Steve Pendergrast

Review from Kickstarter

Hello Papje, Unfortunately, the electronics cannot be packed in an envelope, the 12 servo motors alone would make the envelope bulge too much to be processed in the postal service's machines. There are components like buttons, switches, and integrated circuits with pins that would be potentially crushed or bent in an envelope. We really do have to use a proper box with padding to make sure everything gets to the destination in good shape. I am sorry about the cost, believe me I wish there were better options. I guess the good news is, this kit is far less expensive than any other hexapod I know about that has similar features, even with the high cost of shipping its half to a third of what you'll find.

Papje

Review from Kickstarter

Isn’t $40 to much for shipping to EU, only electronics that can easily packed in an envelop?

John Grissom

Review from Kickstarter

Send me the URL and I will see what I can do to help. Hopefully the project will reach it's goal.